The November 7 release date of Gears of War 2 is steadily approaching and that means that the hype train is steadily starting to pick up steam. As with every massive holiday release, Gears 2 has some serious expectations to live up to. The first game has sold more than five million copies and with Epic's Design Director, Cliff Bleszinski throwing around the phrase "bigger, better, more" at every turn, gamers the world over are expecting a lot from the second entry.

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At Comic-Con in San Diego, you announced "Linked Achievements" and gave three examples of unlockable content in "Gears of War 2": the characters Anthony Carmine, Minh Young Kim and General RAAM. Will these be characters in the campaign or for multiplayer only?

Cliff: Well considering that those characters were killed in the first Gears of War, I'd say it's pretty hard to bring them back for the campaign! Seriously though, these three characters will be unlocked for play in all of the multiplayer modes in Gears 2.

"Linked Achievements" makes it sound like earning Achievements in "Gears of War" unlocks Achievements in "Gears of War 2" automatically. Is this the case?

Cliff: No. Players' Achievements in Gears 1 will unlock content in Gears 2, but they won't automatically give you Achievements in Gears 2.

Do you need to earn these Achievements in "Gears of War" on Xbox 360, or can you earn them in "Gears of War" for Windows?

Cliff You can unlock these characters in Gears 2 if you earn the Achievements in Gears 1 through Xbox 360 or PC, provided you are using the same Gamertag.